Mpower Luxury Packaging Case Study

The importance of custom retail packaging in regards to structure and brand messaging in regards to breaking through products.

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Problem:

Portable lighting solutions are widely recognized and accepted by most consumers. Flashlights and headlamps are some of the most common personal lighting solutions we see in our day to day life. For the most part these solutions do their job pretty well. But these personal lighting solutions require a one time use batteries. These batteries create problems in a number of ways. Batteries once were standard for consumer electronics, but that time has come and gone now that most electronics are rechargeable. With that shift, batteries are no longer the household commodity they once were. This shift has left a gap in the market that has demanded a rechargeable solution that can be used anywhere.

These pain points served as the basis of the company Mpowerd. Mpowerd saw the importance that lighting solutions serve for everyday people and those in energy scarce regions of the world. This lead to the creation of Mpowereds lighting solution line, LUCI. The goal of the LUCI is to be versatile and dependable, whether it is being used for camping or in places of the world without immediate access to power.

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Custom packaging design criteria:

Create a custom luxury packaging solution for innovative product.

A packaging solution that improved the brands retail presentation

A design that could easily implement product differentiation across all SKUS

Packaging that creates a meaning fully retail interaction and unboxing experience through story telling.

Demographic:

Wide age demographic with discretionary income and a focus on the outdoors and sustainability. Would consider themselves as sustainable early adopters of a product trend or movement.

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Process's Approach:

The main goal of this project was to provide Mpower with a luxury packaging experience for Mpowerds signature product the “ LUCI” line. Previously the LUCI products had been packaged in a multi sided sleeve been wrapped around the product and glue to hold the product. While this solution got the job done, it lacked the security and retail appeal that a luxury packaging solution can provide which was more inline with what Mpowerd had envisioned for their brand. We decided that since the “LUCI” had variety of models that looked all nearly identical we implemented couple degrees of product differentiation with their packaging. This was done in two different ways. The first of which was the quality of the packaging itself. The higher end products like the “Luci Pro” and the “Luci Solar String Lights” were packaged in a premium rigid book style box. This type of box is synonymous with luxury packaging and has been used in many of our other luxury consumer electronics packaging solutions with clients like Jaybird and Goalzero. The mid level products were provided with a similar box, but made out of folded paper instead. Both solutions were a significant step up quality compared to the older versions of the packaging and allow customers to easily compare product tiers through packaging.

Additionally each product was product was given a unique color on its box to match the dominant color of the product.

Unlike earlier versions of the LUCI packaging, these versions were fully encapsulated the product adding a level of security that wasn't provided by previous iterations of the Luci packaging. The only downside of providing this security was that it limited interaction with the product by a consumer in retail. This made it difficult to actually interact with the product. To compensate for this we added a window on the front side of the packaging that was only revealed when opening the top flap. Not only did this flap provided more of a luxury unboxing experience, but it also allowed for us to move most of the product education and messaging inside the flap. This opened the front of the packaging allowing it to become less clustered. We completely refined and simplified the front of the box by only keeping the essential messaging.

Like many of our clients who offer innovative products, we felt it necessary to show an actual image of the product on the front of the packaging. The logo and the product name and the products key selling points are also displayed on the front of the packaging. In the case of the “Luci Pro” we added the “light and collapse to just one inch” as well as the statement “completely solar-powered and never needs batteries” to the front of the packaging along side the product image to quickly and concisely explain the products purpose.

This minimalist approach of branding is commonly seen with higher end luxury tech products, and LUCI is no exception to this style. The branding and messaging on the box is kept simple and clean. Even the product imagery is kept simple and balanced and the white space on the packaging is used appropriately.

The back of the packaging is where we choose to really implement nearly all of the product specs and instructional copy. Depending on the model there is either a window that shows the product or there is an image of the product itself centered on the back. The products specs are balanced around right and left margins and the pieces of instructional copy serve as the bottom margin.

It is not until you open the packaging that you are faced with more of the brands messaging and story. With the additional real estate provided by the cover flap , we incorporated some product details on the flap itself. Upon removal of the flap there is some added iconography on the side of the box that explains the products intended usage and capabilities. Depending on the model of the product inside of the flap has imagery paired with some text that re states the product purpose through imagery and copy.